DREAMS AND THEIR PURPOSES

MEMORY VERSE: For God may speak in one way, or in another; yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleeps falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, Job 33:14-15

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Num 3, Ps 37, Sng 1, Heb 1

God speaks in various ways. He speaks through dreams, visions and at times in audible voices. There are several ways through which dream comes. It comes as a result of hunger. Isaiah 29:8 says it shall be even be as when a hungry man dreams, and look – he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is still empty. When people eat in their dreams, the chances are they slept on hungry stomach or slept with the thought of food in their mind. Not all eating in the dreams are from the kingdom of darkness. Dreams also come when we think about something too much during the day. Ecclesiastes 5:3 says for a dream comes through much activity. Not all dreams are from God. If someone has a dream about you and they ask you to go and do something that is not biblical, that dream is not from God. God will not go against the bible.

There are two purposes of dreams. There is a basic purpose and secondary purpose – basic to refer to the dreams you had and secondary to refer to other people’s dream.  The basic purpose of a dream is to inform you of what is going to happen. An example of this is Joseph’s dream where he saw his senior brothers bowing down to him, Genesis 37:5-10. Another purpose of a dream could be to warn you of dangers. The angel of the Lord instructed Joseph in a dream to take the baby and its mother to Egypt as Herod wanted to kill them, Matthew 2:11-15. Also the purpose of a dream could be to warn you of what is going to happen if you don’t change your ways. In Daniel 4:4-27, we see God warning Nebuchadnezzar through a dream about what He intends to do if he does not change his ways. Lastly God uses dreams to communicate with people who cannot hear His audible voice. Because Aaron and Miriam could not hear the audible voice of God, He spoke to them through visions and dreams, Numbers 12:5-8

The secondary purpose of a dream is to encourage you, so that you can have strength to fight the battle of life. After God cut down Gideon’s army from three thousand to only three hundred, his faith shook because he was fighting an army as numerous as the sands of the sea shore. The Lord saw that Gideon was terrified so he told him to go near the camp of the enemy so he could hear the conversation taking place in the camp of the Midianites. When Gideon got there, he had a soldier telling his fellows soldiers about the dream he had where he saw a loaf of bread tumbled into the camp of the Midianites and the whole camp fell. The loaf represented Gideon, when Gideon heard the dream his faith grew, Judges 7:7-14. Another purpose of a dream could be to promote you. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream but he forgot, Daniel and his friends told him his dream and its interpretation and they were promoted, Daniel 2:1-45. Note it is a bad thing to forget one’s dream. God can also help you to reach your goals through someone’s dream. It was Pharaoh’s dream that revealed the need for a prime minister in Egypt that would oversee the economy. Since there was no other suitable candidate, Joseph was made the prime minister. Genesis 40:1-19 and Genesis 41:1-41. 

NOTE: A dream is necessary to keep you going in a time of hardship. Joseph almost lost hope in the king’s prison, but after the interpretation of the butler's dream things changed, Genesis 40:14-15. The hope that the butler would remember him when he gets out of the prison kept him going.